SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Eighth-grade post Taylor Crotsley amassed team highs of 10 points and three assists in the title game while Hailey Sutton captured tournament MVP honors, leading St. John Notre Dame to a 36-22 win over St. Francis School in the championship game of St. Francis High School's Parochial Athletic League basketball tournament Sunday afternoon.
St. Ignatius won the third-place game over St. Rose by a final of 25-19 in Sunday's opener. The PAL tournament consists of eight teams from schools that – like SFHS – operate under the auspices of the Diocese of Sacramento. This weekend's event marked the first PAL tournament since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic canceled it in each of the three years since. The tourney featured the girls' "varsity comp" teams from eight of the Troubadours' feeder schools: SJND, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Rose, Our Lady of Grace, St. Joseph, St. Mary and St. Mel.
St. Francis post Journey Williams led all players in the finale with 11 points, with all 22 points coming from three Wolves: Williams, Jocelyn Villafor and Lola Hammond. Crotsley hit a pair of three-pointers as part of her 10 points for the Fighting Irish, with Lizzie David, Rylee Tibon and Emalynn Tiu chipping in six points each. Impressively, SJND won the tournament despite fielding the minimum five players in Saturday's session, then six players on Sunday.
SJND largely won the game on the strength of a 11-0 run that stretched from late in the first period until the 3:05 mark in the second. This flipped a short-lived 6-4 lead by the Wolves into a 15-6 edge for the Fighting Irish. Crotsley scored twice in the stretch of 11 unanswered, hitting a putback at the 4:08 mark to make it 13-6, then finishing a baseline drive for the 15th point. Villafor ended the SFS scoreless stretch by making both ends of a double-bonus trip to the free-throw line with 1:58 left, but David responded for SJND by banking a three-pointer on the next trip down the court.
The Irish led 20-9 at the half, then extended its lead to 14 when Crotsley opened the third with the first of her two treys. They led by at least 10 for the remainder of the game.
The title contest stood in contrast to the third-place game, which saw four lead changes in the second quarter. SI's Emma Laird and SR's Katelynn James each poured in eight points to lead their respective teams. The Tigers enjoyed a massive advantage at the charity stripe, scoring exactly half of their 22 at the line. Sophia Del Castillo had all six of her points on foul shooting for SI.
St. Rose jumped out to a 5-0 start, with Natasha Jensen scoring on a fast break to get the Cougars on the board and assisting James in transition with a picturesque outlet pass with 3:31 to go. However, Tiger seventh-grader Elsie Ito ended her team's cool start by knocking down a midrange shot on an assist from Joie Dickerson with 1:12 left in the first. Laird and Ito then scored back-to-back to begin the second in giving SI a 6-5 lead at 6:10 in the second, only to have James and Jensen connect yet again for St. Rose less than 30 second later.
Laird assisted Ito on an inbound play to make it 8-7 for the Tigers on the next possession, and Del Castillo made one of two from the line to extend that margin to 9-7 with 2:31 left in the half. Once again, Laird had an answer: she connected from the left baseline for the game's first tie at 9-9. But James drew a foul down low with 0:50 remaining to restore the St. Rose lead to 10-9. St. Ignatius responded on its end when Alli MacDonald was fouled on a putback attempt. She made both free throws to give the Tigers the lead for good: 11-10 with 12 ticks left before halftime. Del Castillo extended the lead to 13-10 at the break, when she stole the ball then got fouled on her fast break. She made both foul shots.
Neither team managed to score in the third until Laird hit a 15-footer at the 2:02 mark, but St. Ignatius protected its lead for the rest of the game. St. Rose pulled to within one possession on three occasions after that: James' second-chance score at 1:40 made it 15-12, and an Ashley Gabriele three-pointer from the right side brought the deficit to 17-15 to end the third. James assisted Jensen for another goal to bring the Cougs to within 19-17 just a minute into the fourth, but St. Rose could not equalize. Laird, who opened the fourth with a 16-footer for the Tigers, knocked down another one from the same spot after the Jensen score to extend the lead to 21-17. St. Rose's foul situation had St. Ignatius in the bonus or double bonus for almost the entirety of the fourth. Del Castillo made three of her final free throws to help her Tiger teammates cling to the lead.
All eight teams had one member earning all-tourney honors, with Sutton garnering the MVP nod by virtue of her team's championship. The full all-tourney squad will be announced at GoTroubies.com once all eight teams submit their honorees. The four Sunday participants earned their Day 2 games by winning their first-round contests on Saturday (results below).
St. Francis High girls basketball enter the final week of the regular season with a 19-4 overall record and a Delta League-leading 9-0 mark. The Troubies play three games before learning their Sac-Joaquin Section postseason fate: at Pleasant Grove (Monday), home vs. Sheldon (Wednesday) and home vs. Davis (Friday). The Friday finale will serve as Senior Night for five 2023 graduates: Jadyn Weaver, Sophie Harris, Kyla Escalante, Emily Dusel and manager Jo Jo Myers.
2023 ST. FRANCIS PAL TOURNAMENT
St. Francis Catholic High School • Feb. 4-5, 2023
Varsity Comp format
FIRST ROUND
St. John Notre Dame 46, Our Lady of Grace 21
St. Rose 33, St. Mary 20
St. Francis 20, St. Joseph 18
St. Ignatius 36, St. Mel 26
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
OLG 44, St. Mary 22
St. Joseph 36, St. Mel 18
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
SJND 43, St. Rose 27
St. Francis 20, St. Ignatius 13
CHAMPIONSHIP
SJND 36, St. Francis 22
THIRD PLACE
St. Ignatius 25, St. Rose 19
